How do recycling stats stack up for packaging materials?

In celebration of America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, Packaging Digest takes stock of the latest recycling statistics for plastic, glass, metal, paperboard, flexible packaging and two other surprise areas, courtesy of the leading organizations that track the numbers.

Looking at the big picture, we recycled or composted nearly 87 million tons of the 251 million tons of trash generated in 2012, according to the most recent numbers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This equates to a 34.5% overall recycling rate, which gives us a baseline of comparison (albeit not for direct comparison because of the different years represented).